As I've stated several times before, your career is your most valuable financial asset, offering you many financial benefits. You can make the most of it by getting a college degree and managing your career to its full potential. Doing this well can earn you millions of dollars in extra income throughout your lifetime.
One key to making the most of your lifetime earnings is to ask for a raise when appropriate. "When appropriate" is different for every person, but is likely at least a few times in everyone's career. To help all of us be better "askers" when it comes to raises, I've written several pieces on the issue including:
Today, I have another great article to add to this list. It's from David Bach and lists his five steps to getting a bigger raise. Here's step #1:
Step 1: Brand Yourself - Nothing determines your value in the marketplace more than how you position yourself and how you come across to your boss.
David suggests you ask yourself a series of questions such as "As an employee, do I stand out or blend in?" and "Do I have a written plan for my career that describes how I add value at work, or do I wing it?" Answering these questions is key to determining where you stand in relation to actively managing your career, gives you a sense of where you're doing well and where you're missing it, and serves as the foundation for developing a proactive career plan that will (hopefully) get you that big raise you want.
I can't tell you how important it is that you take control of your "brand" (how people perceive you) and manage it actively. I have made this key point over and over again as have experts like David Lorenzo, author of Career Intensity and Pamela Lenehan, author of What You Don't Know and Your Boss Won't Tell You. How well you project your "image" can literally mean millions of extra dollars for you during the course of your work career.
I know the concept of "branding yourself" can be a bit vague, especially for those non-marketing people who aren't use to such terminology. So think of it this way -- which brand would you rather be: Nike? McDonald's? Bob Evans? iPod? Pixar? Coke? Better yet, which would your boss want you to be? Why? How can you get there -- get to the point where you are perceived the way your boss (and the company) want you to be. Once you are, then you're in a prime spot to ask for that raise.
Fortunately, David tells us how to get to that point in his next four steps. They are:
Step 2: Write Your Action Plan - Write the following on a piece of paper: your name, your current annual salary, how much of a raise you want, the percentage of your current salary it represents, your new salary after the raise, and your deadline for getting it.
Step 3: Put Yourself in Your Boss' Shoes - Now it's time to determine how you'll add more value to your work. Asking for a raise can backfire if you aren't willing or able to deliver the goods. A sound way to determine your perceived value is to imagine how your boss would respond if you asked what I call the Seven Magic Questions.
To me, the key question here is "How could I be your 'dream team' employee?" If you can answer this, then work hard to deliver it, that raise is yours!
Step 4: Focus on the 80/20 Rule - Identify and maximize your most productive activities, and minimize the busywork that takes up most of your time but produces little of value. Then put your plan into action.
Step 5: Ask for Your Raise - After you've put your plan into action -- and, just as important, demonstrated its results -- it's time to ask for a raise. Make an appointment with your boss, look him or her in the eye, and share what you've done to increase your value and how you plan to add even more value in the future. Then share the salary you want.
These are great tips from David, but let me simplify them a bit. The bottom line is that performance gets paid and over-performance gets paid more (hence, a raise). So find out what your employer expects from a "perfect" employee handling your job, then deliver it. Then do a bit more. Once you do, you'll be ready for a raise at a minimum -- if not a promotion.
And here's one final thought from David for those of you who may be nervous at asking for a raise:
It can cost an employer up to a year of your salary to replace you. Depending on the level of training your company has invested in you, hiring and training a "new you" could cost a fortune, and employers know this.
Compared to your replacement costs, the cost of retaining a highly productive, highly motivated employee with a reasonable if substantial raise is well worthwhile.
It's that simple. Giving a good employee a pay bump is much, much easier, cost-effective, and practical than trying to find a new person to do the job, so don't worry about them showing you the door. And even if they do, if you're clearly a star performer, your company's competitors will likely want to snap up someone with your skills. ;-)
I make 135 a day, im asking for 165 a day tommorw!!!
Posted by: Busniess_King | July 18, 2006 at 07:24 PM
Choosing the most suitable timing is absolutely important.
If you ask for it at the right moment, then you have very good chances to get a pay raise and you don’t even need to achieve a high level performance.
I think, that these are the best opportunities to get a pay raise:
-When your company is getting good results – at the yearly evaluation
-If you take on some spectacular extra work and do it well
-You have finished a training or a seminar which is relevant for your performance and your job
- or when you are simply getting good results
Posted by: Gordon, the Pay Raise Maniac | July 29, 2010 at 06:53 PM